prosecute

Borrowed from Latin prōsecūtus, perfect participle of prōsequor. Doublet of pursue, from Old French. Compare also persecute.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒsɪkjuːt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

prosecute (third-person singular simple present prosecutes, present participle prosecuting, simple past and past participle prosecuted)

1. (transitive, law) To start criminal proceedings against.

   to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 56, line 898:

     To acquit themſelves and proſecute their foes

2. (transitive, law) To charge, try.
   • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 8:

     The Vigilante is prosecuted in Federal Court under a lynch bill and winds up in a Federal Nut House specially designed for the containment of ghosts […]

3. To seek to obtain by legal process.

   to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law

4. (transitive) To pursue something to the end.

   to prosecute a scheme, hope, or an investigation

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I am beloved of beauteous Hermia; / Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?

   • 2022 October 22, “Ministry of Home Affairs' Response to Sir Richard Branson's Blog Post on 10 October 2022”, in Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore)‎:

     Nor do we believe that a country that prosecuted two wars in China in the 19th century to force the Chinese to accept opium imports has any moral right to lecture Asians on drugs.

• prosecutable

• creeps out, outcreeps

prōsecūte

1. vocative masculine singular of prōsecūtus